Ancient Egypt Altered Book

Hello there friends, it seems like ages since I last posted but I've been busy working on my spreads for the altered book round robin.  This book was entitled Ancient Egypt and the previous artists had done some amazing work leaving me wondering where to start.  I was so pleased to borrow some stamps from a friend which got me going and it went really well after that.  Here's the first spread

The pages of the book were quite flimsy and shiny so I decided to fold some to make a central pocket for my tag and then decorated both sides.  I used Tim's new Latticework stencil on the left hand side and distressed the paper to look a bit like an old scroll.  The right hand side was painted with Seedless Preserves Distress Stain which allowed the printing to show through and I sealed the edges with some washi tape.  I loved the bit of upholstery trim I found in my stash and frayed the ends, dipping them into glue and gold glitter.  My tag was embossed and then rubbed with several colours of metallic paste and polished to a shine and decorated with a bronze mummy.

Here's the second side of that pocket

 

This side of the pocket was painted with Broken China Distress Stain, dabbed with gold paint and trimmed with more washi tape and ribbon.  I really liked the idea of a corrugated cardboard pyramid rubbed with gold paint and the sphynx in front.  Someone else before me had used very fine sandpaper for their sand - great idea.  My scarab beetle was actually finished off with a gold coin and some shiny beads but that was last minute after I'd taken these pics.  I had to get it wrapped up to send to Australia in the morning for the next part of its journey.

Thanks for joining me today and if you've never altered a book before, I'd certainly recommend it.  Especially joining in a round robin - its really inspiring to see other people's work.  Hope everyone is having a great Sunday and better weather than we have here in NE England where its been thick fog all day.  Nice and warm by the log fire though.  Margie x

PS  My son sent me a Mother's Day message from Kenya today where he's been taking part in a charity climb of Mt Kenya to help raise funds for a village his firm is supporting.  I'm so proud of him I could burst.